Manchester Igbo Leaders Forum (the Forum), a meeting of leaders and representatives from Igbo Community Associations in Greater Manchester, England, and with their people, have risen up to condemn the atrocities committed by the Nigerian security forces and other armed groups in Igboland.
The Forum made up of current and past leaders of the community associations, following consultations with their members, have resolved to speak out against the undeclared war being waged by the Nigerian Army and Police in parts of Igboland. These security forces are killing Igbos in their ancestral homeland, in the pretence of acting to quell secessionist agitations and teach armed groups/ ‘unknown gun men’ a lesson.
Manchester Igbo Leaders Forum condemn the unprovoked war that is indiscriminately cutting short the lives of many innocent Igbo youths, maiming and dehumanising others, and traumatising the entire Igbo populations in the South East. We ask world leaders and the entire international community not to turn a blind eye to the atrocities of the war against the Igbos. The Forum unequivocally condemn violence on every side; we enjoin restraint on all sides, and call on the Governors of the Igbo states, to act to ensure the protection of lives and properties of their own people.
Anyone interested in the country Nigeria and its peoples cannot now fail to notice the signs of the imminent danger. The danger of the failure of the Nigerian state has become very real indeed. If that happens, the present unspeakable evils of ransom kidnappings, egregious human rights violations, rapes, community dislocations, extrajudicial executions by armed forces, etc. would look like a manageable, minor local breaches of the peace. Therefore, all men and women of good will in Nigeria and beyond, can no longer avoid taking the necessarily joint and determined actions in the interest of peace in the land.
And, hence, a good number of notable individuals and organised groups have been standing up and speaking out. However, the fact that wanton destruction of lives and properties in many parts of Nigeria is on-going and, indeed, spreading, is testimony to the fact that sane voices in the land have not been heeded to. The security forces recently have been on a vicious campaign in Imo state, an Igbo heartland, leading to a heightening of the sense of siege in the entire Igboland.
The President of the Republic has failed, abysmally, to exercise the power of his office responsibly, sensibly and sensitively. Put simply, he adds fuel to the fire that is raging. The one question in our minds and in the minds of many impartial observers of the current Nigerian situation for the President is: does the President’s personal allegiances or loyalties take precedence over the primary duty of his government to Nigerians? Or, are the ills and
insecurities Nigeria is engulfed by just the consequence of some hidden and not-so-hidden agenda that his administration is, relentlessly, unconcernedly and unabashedly pursuing?
The President recently used tweeter to reference the past genocidal war against the Igbos. His clear message to the Igbos was not a message of hope and sympathy for their pains and sufferings from the war, never mind peace and love, but the promise of more pains and destructions.
Reacting to the tense atmosphere in the whole of the South East, visible human sufferings, wanton destruction of especially youthful human lives by the Nigerian security forces, and the barbarism and savagery of so-called ‘unknown gun men’, particularly, in Imo State, Ohaneze Ndi Igbo appealed to the security forces and the good people of the South East. The take-away from Professor Obiozor, the President of Ohaneze Ndi Igbo read speech, is that the Igbos still are part of Nigeria, and committed to the ‘Nigerian project’. An important qualification to this commitment is, he says, that the self-evidently, still elusive Nigerian unity, is not to be striven for and achieved by the sacrifice of more Igbo lives.
Professor Nwala, the Chair of the Board of Trustee of Alaigbo Development Foundation too had clearly and boldly spoken, saying to the powers-that-be in Nigeria, that the Igbos cannot accept or be made to live on their knees. We, in Manchester Igbo Leaders Forum, proudly, echo the laudable sentiments expressed by the Board of Trustees of Alaigbo Development Foundation. The point that too much Igbo blood has already been spilt in Nigeria, for the sake of the elusive national unity and harmony, is underlined. Other Nigerians too have had to die, and are still dying, in the name of one Nigeria. Their pains and sufferings are mournfully noted.
Is there not another, a better way? Are the young and old in Nigeria forever condemned to life of hopelessness, in the forced service of some mythic goal or ideal? The rulers evidently do not care; they are interested only in holding onto power by all means, and ruthlessly clamping down on those clamouring for freedom and respect for human dignity of all
Nigerians. Freedom fighters are branded ‘terrorists’ whilst the real terrorists are treated with kid gloves.
The current regime in Nigeria applies and enforces the law of the land selectively, and prove thereby that all Nigerians are not equal. That the Nigerian government did everything to ‘re- arrest’ Mazi Nnamdi Kalu, leader of Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), is plain demonstration of the aforesaid selective enforcement of the law and practice of double- standards by it. On the person of Mazi Kalu, our demand is that his fundamental human, legal and constitutional rights must be protected and respected; he must be seen to receive a fair treatment.
The government must know this: not only the spirits and zeal for freedom of the now- awakened entire Igbo population, but also the entire oppressed Nigerian populations, cannot now be killed by Nigeria, whatever befalls Kalu. We are watching. The world is watching.
Evil happens in the world mostly when men and women of goodwill do and say nothing. It is equally true that charity begins at home. As the South East of Nigeria is our eternal home, we cannot stand aloof and watch silence as our people suffer and die undignified deaths in our land. We say that we are willing and committed, hand in hand with other communities, of Igbos and non-Igbos, Nigerians and non-Nigerians, to help our people, to bring peace and stability to Igboland.
As we unreservedly condemn any form of violence unjustly meted to any individuals or groups, we will strive to ensure that the perpetrators and their enablers do not escape judgment and punishment in due time.
Long live all peace-loving peoples of Nigeria! Secretary Manchester Igbo Leaders Forum
For media enquires contact: manchesterigboleadersforum@gmail.com; Manchester Igbo Leaders Forum@Man_IgboLeaders
Signed: Chukwuemeka C. Oti
